Gunman accused of killing two students in shooting spree at University of North Carolina-Charlotte speaks out: ‘I just went into a classroom and shot the guys’

A 22-year-old gunman accused of killing two students and wounding four others at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte on Tuesday admitted “I just went into a classroom and shot the guys” as he was led away in handcuffs.

Ellis Parlier, 19, and Riley Howell, 21, lost their lives, according to the university, and three of the wounded victims were in critical condition. Trystan Andrew Terrell was booked into jail in Mecklenburg County on two counts of murder, four counts of attempted murder and other charges. He will make his first court appearance on Thursday.

Police officers who were nearby for a concert rushed to the classroom building and arrested Terrell in the room where the shooting took place.

Investigators are looking into possible motives for the attack. Terrell, a former student at the school, confessed to reporters after he was apprehended: “I just went into a classroom and shot the guys.”

Terrell did not know Parlier or Howell, according to NBC in Charlotte. The four wounded people were all students as well, according to officials.

“You’re describing someone foreign to me,” the suspect’s grandfather Paul Rold told The Associated Press by phone. “This is not in his DNA.”

Rold said that Terrell had never showed any interest in guns or other weapons. The Texas resident said Terrell and his father moved to Charlotte from the Dallas area about two years ago after his mother died.

Terrell was a history major at UNCC and had been enrolled as recently as the fall semester.

Adjunct professor Monifa Drayton said she was walking onto campus when she heard the shots.

“I heard one final gunshot and I saw all the children running toward me,” she said. “We started to get all the children pulled into the second floor of the parking deck and the rationale was if we’re in the parking deck and there’s a shooter and we don’t know where he is, he won’t have a clear shot.

“My thought was, I’ve lived my life, I’ve had a really good life, so, these students deserve the same,” she continued. “And so, whatever I could do to help any child to safety, that’s what I was going to do.”

The two victims were identified by Chancellor Phillip Dubois on Wednesday. Parlier hailed from Midland, N.C., and Howell was from Waynesville.

“It breaks my heart. We’re torn up about what’s happened,” said Susan Harden, UNCC professor and Mecklenburg County Commissioner. “Students should be able to learn in peace and in safety and professors ought to be able to do their jobs in safety.”

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